THE CONCEPT OF MUSIC IN IGALA LAND
By;
BABA OJONUGWA (JFO)
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(C) Baba Ojonugwa
Aka
Baba JFO
In June 1970, three Igala men combined their resources to begin a revolution which has for more than three decades remained unnoticed by the generality of the Igala race, it was the first time such a union had ever happened, the three men were Alhaji Ibrahim Anaja, Alhaji Usman Ladan and Alhaji Mohammed Onalo (aka Paul Odi ).
Alhaji Anaja and Alhaji Ladan put their money together to produce and record a budding talent Alhaji Onalo aka Paul Odi and thus usher the Igala race to the era of musical recordings which is the inspiration for this work.
To these three men whom I have never met, I remain ever grateful for the inspiration.
As a child in the early 1980’s growing up in Makurdi, I was exposed to music from Tiv land but my conception of music was what Nzewi (1985) called “...a mental art conceived and practiced for the sole purpose of entertainment for the society, while accruing popularity and financial rewards to it practitioners”
Back then, the popular music on radio, television, audio tapes gramophone and the sacred music of the church and the traditional music of festivals that I heard whenever we travelled to Odogomu my home town was my experience of music.
The above is still true of many Igala sons and daughters born and reared in modern non Igala towns, they grow with this notion and die with it, never having an idea of the music from their land but enjoying music from other ethnic groups.
Each time any music from Igala land is played this Igala sons and daughters frown and “make face”, I got out of this dilemma and I have since become Igala-centric. I believe by the time you finish this book you too will.
INTRODUCTION
How many of us ever stop to think of music as a wondrous link with God, the almighty creator, taking sometimes the place of prayer, when words have failed us?
A Catholic saint (Augustine) also said “he who sings, prays twice”.
Indeed good music “knows no country, race or creed but gives to each according to their need”.
Music is the best of all art form and luckily the easiest to acquire, it is only a musician who can communicate to the world at once and be understood by all.
Like all other societies, music is an essential part of the Igala society, the Igalas are justifiably addicted to good music, and they make good music. All generations of the Igala race have had music of their generation for their generation, and various shifts and tendencies have occurred in the music of Igala land due to its receptiveness and dynamism.
This work intends to let the non specialist/musicologist reader into the concept of music as the Igala nation perceives it.
While recognizing the global dimension of cultural diffusion and the inevitability of culture change, there is the urgent need to document and understand some salient features of Igala traditional culture for the sake of historical reconstruction as well as retaining the positive values inherent in them which are relevant to today’s situation.
The indigenous traditional music of Igala land is an integral part of Igala culture which is fast fading due to lack of research and documentation. Understanding the concept of music in Igalaland, “the musico - cultural essence” as well as the extra musical and socio- cultural experience which it embodies is the focus of this study.
The study also intends to provoke further research into this field and also project and place the music of Igala land among other universal music types.
IGALA LAND AND PEOPLE
The word “Igala” refers not only to the people but also to the language of the people and the land (when prefixed with “Ane” as in “Ane Igala”).
The Igala people constitute 54% of present day Kogi State in North Central Nigeria.
GEOGRAPHY: Igala Land or “Ane Igala” is situated east side of the river Niger – Benue confluence and astride the Benue (Northwards) as it links up with the Niger to form the Confluence in Lokoja. Her eastern boundary is Idoma land and to the southern border is Igbo land.
CLIMATE: A fertile transition belt exist in “Ane Igala” between the rain forest of southern Nigeria and the grass and park land of the North. With an adequate and well distributed rainfall.
Igala land has three seasons, the rainy and dry season which last for about five months each and the harmattan which is noted for its irregularity in duration. Planting is most often done during the harmattan.
In the area south of Idah, it is seasonally flooded with species of palm and swamp forest. Notable crops found in Igala land are; yams, yellow yams (ogoma), cocoyam’s, cassava, rice, millet, guinea corn and maize, some forest areas favour the cultivation of rubber and oil palm.
THE LANGUAGE: “Igala” belongs to the Kwa sub family of the Niger Congo Linguistic family. According to Ijoma (2004), some early workers on the Igala language are those of Hewstone of the Akpoto Bible Mission, Rev. Dibble who did the Igala translation of the New Testament and W.T.A Philpot who published a journal on Igala linguistic tonality.
Ijoma went further to state that, using glottochronology that Igala separated from the Yoruba about 2000 years ago and about 4000 years between the Igala and Idoma’s who are next door neighbours. The above claim takes us to the origin of Igala.
IGALA ORIGIN; The origin of the Igala people is still a topic of serious debate but the most popular is that the Igala’s are from Egypt like many African nations and though there is still no concrete evidence to indicate Igala’s migration to their present location just as most nations found in present day Nigerian but what is indisputable is the fact that the Igala nation is 100% black (Negro) found in North central Nigeria not outside it and like Yusuf Etu (1999) advocated, the Igala’s should “……..look down their boots for their origin not outside it..…”
According to Abdullahi (2006) quoting Miles Cliford, a one time district head of Idah district a breakaway group of the Jukun moved eastward from Wukari staying just south of the Benue…………. They settled in Amaggedde in the north-east of Igala before finally moving from there across country to Idah.
Many early researchers claim the Igala origin to be from Egypt and recently Jacob Abdullahi buttressed his claim quoting professor Gabriel Oyibo thus “……our forefathers were the inhabitants of Egypt”.
Abdullahi claimed that the Arabian invasion of Egypt in 36 – 841 AD drove the Igalas from Egypt, the scattering took others to Ethiopia making 75% of Igala’s in Ethiopia, some moved to Congo and the Indigenous language of Congo is Lingala, another settled in Ghana and they speak Gaa a variation of the Igala language, a traditional ruler in Ghana is also called Atta. Angola means the “Land of Gala’s”.
Abdullahi further stated that, in the process of migration some settled in Sudan, Madagascar, Turkey and Yemen. Still Quoting Miles Clifford, Abdullahi wrote further that “the Igala country was variously called Igala, Igara, Gara, gala……..Atangara or Akpoto”.
According to Oguagha, Igalaland is inhabited “….by an indigenous population called “Akpoto” this population substratum is thought by some authories to be of Idoma stock and to have been absorbed by the Igala through Acculturation”.
Oral traditions have it that from the west Igala land received immigrants from Benin, perhaps royal immigrants and Jacob Abdullahi supports this claim with the “Oduduwa” origin in igala land.
ODUDUWA- THE IGALA ORIGIN
If you ask any elderly person in Igala land for the meaning of “Oduduwa” they tell you it means “He was brought by God” thus supporting the Yoruba myth that Oduduwa dropped from the sky but the Igala oral tradition has it that he was a Benin Prince who lost his right to the throne and crossed the river Niger to Igala land. He was found wondering in the bush by Igala hunters and brought to the Attah who couldn’t establish his origin as Oduduwa refuced to do so. Attah passed a verdict that he should be allowed to stay and called him “Ene k ondu du wa” meaning “the one brought by God”.
Oduduwa founded “Ife” in the present day Omala Local Government, he married and had many children for he exclaimed “Ola mi fe todu le ojo gbu mi” meaning “I am clean that is why God saved me”.
Oduduwa learned the language and spoke it with his wives and children. As a prince from Benin even in a foreign land, he still yearned for a royal role which he could not achieve in Igala land thus he migrated westwards to establish his own dynasty and dwelt in present day “Ile Ife” in Osun State.
Later on in Igala history, his descendants still wanted a royal role thus they tried taking the Attahship by force many times and many times they failed thus their titled “Ojogba” in reference to God’s intervention if not they would have because the Attah. The “Ojogba” is the only Igala Chief that does not bow to the Attah.
The Yoruba myth of a man from the heaven’s should be thrown out as it was propagated by Europeans and early Yoruba scholars. As various Igala scholars got more information on Igala history, especially from oral traditions, the story of Oduduwa’s Igala origin is beginning to come to light.
According to anthropologist, migration does not take place from the south to the north so the Yoruba’s can never be the parent stock of the Igala nation as early scholars propagated, it should be the other way round.
The Jukun Empire with its capital at Wukari also executed some influence on Igala land from the East and the present ruling dynasty in Idah is of Jukun origin.
Igala land is ruled by the “Attah” meaning father.
MUSIC IN IGALA-LAND
Before proceeding in this study it is worthy to note that there is no particular music type that is called “IGALA MUSIC” but there are various music types and forms of “MUSIC IN IGALA LAND” which exist by various names e.g. Agwomu, Abele, Alo, Agale, , Ogwu, Ogba, , Olele, Idologo, Ibele, , Sabada, lgba, Iya”Oye, Anukikpo, Oganyi etc. these are music of Igala land and not Igala music, but for the purpose of this study both shall be used interchangeably.
In Igala land, musical performances are an integral part of the total culture of the people as an extra musical (socio/sacred) activity and a united sub-unit in the total culture of the land. It takes places within the context of other performing art elements (e.g. Dance, drama, costumes, make-up e.t.c) the Igala musician is a library of history, philosophy and literature; he (the musician) communicates this knowledge to his audience through the specialized medium of his art. A full and thorough understanding of the intricate Igala culture is presented to the listeners through the indigenous traditional music of Igala land which is fast fading out due to reasons which shall be the focus of another study already in progress.
Research and works on the indigenous music of Igala land are scarce if not non existent but various attempts by foreign (non Igala) scholars as well as non musicologist have done great injustice to the music, focusing only on a single approach - ‘the purely musical characteristics” - not much emphasis is placed on the extra musical significance of music in Igala land and this does not reflect the ongoing wind of ethno-musicology, which is a complimentary study that attempts a balanced presentation of musical traditions as a symbol of human experience and musical structure.
TO BE CONT'D
